Stock markets plunged Thursday after President Donald Trump’s historic tariff announcement, sparking fears of a US and global recession. 

It was a sea of red on Wall Street as US stock markets opened for the first time since President Donald Trump unveiled higher-than-expected tariffs. For every stock increasing in value, ten were falling.

Megacap US tech companies including Apple and retail giants Walmart and Nike led the global market meltdown amid fears of a spike in costs across a wide swath of industries.   

Trillions of dollars was wiped off the value of US stocks —  a blow that will also hit ordinary Americans whose retirement savings, including 401(K) are tied to the market. 

Retail experts say tariffs will also push up prices for shoppers since they are so big companies will have to pass on higher costs. 

The S&P 500 opened down 3.12 percent, the Nasdaq down 4.16 percent and the Dow Jones lower by 2.63percent. The S&P is on course for its worst day in two years. There are hopes they will recover during the day and coming weeks.

Companies that rely on imports were down the most, since they will now be hit by tarifs as high as 54 percent for cheap goods from Asia. Nike was down 12 per cent. Apple down 8 per cent.

‘The silver lining for investors could be that this is only a starting point for negotiations with other countries and ultimately tariff rates will come down across the board,’ Northlight Asset Management’s Chris Zaccarelli wrote in a note to clients. ‘But for now traders are shooting first and asking questions later,’ he added.

trader runs on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the opening bell in New York City on April 3, 2025. Wall Street stocks sank in early trading on April 3,2025, joining a global equity selloff after President Donald Trump’s latest tariff announcement exacerbated worries about a trade war and global economic downturn. 

The Nasdaq plunged at market open on Thursday morning – down a huge 4.6 per cent by 9.45am

On Thursday morning,  Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick dismissed the possibility of exemptions for certain countries under the new US tariffs.

‘I don’t think the word exemption is going to be a factor. I don’t think that’s such a thing,’ Lutnick said on CNBC’s Squawk Box.

Lutnick also warned that other nations would be making a mistake if they retaliated with their own tariffs against the U.S.

Trump made his tariff announcement Wednesday afternoon in the White House Rose Garden, unveiling broad 10 percent tariffs — with even higher rates for certain countries. This includes 34 percent on China, on top of an existing 20 percent tariff. For the European Union, it is 20 percent, much higher than expected. Tariffs will be25 percent on South Korea, 24 percent on Japan and 32 percent on Taiwan.

By then, Wall Street had closed, but futures tied to major US indexes immediately nosedived as investors worried about rising inflation and economic fallout. 

Overnight, global stocks tumbled as recession fears spread. Japan’s Nikkei index sank tumbled more than 3 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi slipped 1.5 percent. In Australia’s main index dipped 1.9 percent, heading for its worst single-day decline since September. 

Trump on Wednesday accused foreign nations of ‘ripping off’ the United States. He announced a baseline 10 percent tariff on all imports, effective April 5, with higher rates for countries imposing steeper duties on US goods.

Trump confirmed that a 25 percent tariff would be imposed on all foreign cars imported to the US starts Thursday.

President Donald Trump holds up his signed executive order at the conclusion of his event in the Rose Garden introducing substantial reciprocal tariffs 

The first of eight pages of reciprocal tariffs that the White House announced during Wednesday’s event in the Rose Garden 

The president used aggressive rhetoric to describe a global trade system that the United States helped to build after World War II, saying ‘our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, plundered’ by other nations.

He has promised that factory jobs will return back to the United States as a result of the taxes, but his policies risk a sudden economic slowdown as consumers and businesses could face sharp price hikes on autos, clothes and other goods.

‘Taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years,’ Trump said in remarks at the White House. ‘But it is not going to happen anymore.’

He condemned ‘foreign scavengers.’ And he talked of other nations that had ‘pillaged, raped and plundered’ the U.S. and ‘foreign cheaters’ who ‘ransacked’ American factories. 

It took nearly 20 minutes before Trump shared the tariff details. 

‘For nations that treat us badly we will calculate the combined rate of all their tariffs, non-monetary barriers and other forms of cheating. And because we are being very kind … We will charge them approximately half of what they charge us,’ Trump said. 

Trump then held up a large sign that showed the calculations. As Trump went through the chart, he knocked even some of the U.S.’s closest allies for charging import taxes. 

‘The European Union. They’re very tough, very, very tough traders. You think of European Union, very friendly. They rip us off. It’s so said to see. It’s pathetic,’ Trump said. ‘Thirty-nine percent, we’re going to charge them 20 percent, so we’re charging them essentially half.’ 

President Donald Trump holds up a giant chart showing some of the reciprocal tariffs his administration plans to charge foreign countries. Every country will be charged at least a 10 percent tariff to import goods to the U.S. 

The largest tariff will hit the African nation of Lesotho, at a rate of 50 percent. 

Canada and Mexico were exempt from Wednesday’s tariff announcement, due to the president already charging them 25 percent excluding the goods outlined in the trade agreement from Trump’s first administration. 

‘They all understand, we’re gonna have to go through a little tough love maybe? But they all understand. They’re ripping us off and they understood,’ Trump said.